Patching Things Up
by ProDLnEC aka NLcsimiamifanatic
Summary: Eric forgives his mother...post "Who You Are" Story


A rare moment of quiet in the Delko household. And just a moment it was. Both Ethan and Zachary were napping. Zachary's twin was in the living room playing with her big sister Chloe.

_"Ow! Mom!" Calleigh heard from the living room. _

_ She sighed and put down her coffee, walking to the living room, wondering what a one-year-old could do to a seven-year-old. She burst out laughing in the living room door frame. _

_ Both children were sitting on the floor. Nadya, grinning, had Chloe by the nose and __not__ letting go. Calleigh went over and tickled the baby to try and get her to let go of the older girl. _

_ "No, no, Nadya! Don't do that to your sister!" The mother said, half-laughing. After a few seconds Nadya let go. _

_ Chloe rubbed her nose. _

Eric called this behavior from Zachary and Nadya "the illegal nose grab."

"They wouldn't be declared the winner in a wrestling match," he said.

When Nadya did the same to Eric later that evening and he called out to Calleigh for help, Calleigh looked around the corner and said "I told her she couldn't do that to her sister. Daddy's fair game."

"You have an unfair advantage, mi preciosa?" He said in a nasal voice while Nadia squeezed his nose and laughed.

Chloe was her daddy's "princesa," Spanish for 'princess.' Nadia was "mi preciosa" Spanish for "my precious."

It had been three days since Eric had been comforted and reassured of his identity by his dad. He and his mother still weren't speaking. Eric was willing to forgive her and move on if she just admitted he had indeed deserved to know his beginning. However, Chlorinda was still adamant it had been _her_ secret to keep and if she hadn't wanted Eric to know, mostly because she was embarrassed then her husband hadn't have the right to say anything. The few friends who knew the secret thought she was being incredibly selfish. They told her Eric had the right to know this information maybe not as a young boy but a long time ago.

The children were blissfully unaware of this tension though. But Chloe sighed every time she saw Nana coming in the last few weeks and at the present anyway. She was always saying how "girls don't play soccer or baseball or do karate. That's for boys. It's just not lady-like." She bought Chloe a ballet costume, hoping she would "get rid" of her soccer uniform and karate suit. This upset the seven-year-old. Honestly she hadn't meant to hurt her granddaughter, she didn't. When she was growing up things were very different and she was still very much thinking that way.

This hadn't gone over well in the Delko household. Days before the birth certificate shock, when Chlorinda bought the ballet costume and said what she did to his daughter Eric told her to mind her own business and to set her mind ahead a few decades.

"I hope you're happy. You really hurt your granddaughter's feelings. This generation is a whole lot different, ma. Get used to it! That's _nothing_ wrong with Chloe playing sports. It's something she enjoys and in this house whatever our children enjoy doing, we support. What you think is '_ladylike_' doesn't matter. I don't want to ever hear you say anything like to any of my children again."

Known as "Dedushka" to his grandchildren, Pavel had been over his son's often since then. His daughter-in-law was going back to work part-time in a few weeks. Pavel had volunteered to do a fair share of babysitting. Being retired now he had the time and he knew all about kid care, including changing diapers. He thoroughly enjoyed the children, no matter how tiring caring for all four of them was. His oldest grandchild reminded him so much of his son. It made him smile to see just how close the bond between Calleigh and Chloe was. It was so clear that Calleigh didn't love the little girl any less or "differently" than the younger three children. The fact that some people with adopted and biological children said that if anything happened to their non-biological child they would "be devastated but not die" but when it came to a biological child their "world would end," then they would do "anything, within reason" for their adopted child but "anything without reason" for a child they gave birth to made the woman sick. These people said it was "just normal human behavior." Calleigh couldn't believe anyone could say this and have the gall to call themselves a parent.

The fact that Chlorinda was sticking to her story and not apologizing to her boy though she had apologized to her husband was making more than people in her family angry.

_"Don't you want your family back? Don't you want things between you and your son and you and your husband to be the way they were before? Christ, Chlorinda! __Get over yourself!__ Why is admitting to your son that you were __wrong__ and apologizing so difficult?" Chlorinda's life-long friend, Laura said. The two women had known each other since they were children in Havana. "Eric's willing to forgive and move on, why can't you? And __how__could__ you say something to a seven-year-old child? You should grovel at that little girl's feet for forgiveness!" _

Chlorinda Delko was still being stubborn and not apologizing to Eric or Pavel.

Almost immediately Chlorinda had regretted doing and saying what she had to Chloe; she _did_ accept her granddaughter for who she was and she wouldn't change a thing about her. The only reason she had approached Chloe about ballet so much was because when she were growing up _all_ girls loved and did ballet and other sports was for only for little boys. She realized now that she was completely wrong and Eric was right, that times were very different. Chlorinda would explained this to the child the next time they spoke; whenever she got the nerve to apologize to her son, she already done so with her husband. She didn't know how the conversation was going to go so she came over at 10:00pm when she knew all the children would be asleep.

_Eric was surprised to see his mother at the front door when the doorbell rang. He and Calleigh were in their "lounging clothes" getting ready to watch The Brave One._

_ "Mom," he said, his face showing his surprise. "What are you doing here? Is everything all right?"_

_ Chlorinda just nodded. "Can I come in?"_

_ Eric stepped aside and let her in, closing the door._

_ "Can we talk, hijo?" She asked. _

_ Eric nodded and gestured for to sit down in the kitchen. Calleigh had heard her mother-in-law at the door and decided to stay in the living room so mother and son could talk. Eric waited for his mother to speak._

_ "I'm sorry, Eric. I never ever wanted to hurt you. I hid this from you because I was so ashamed; never of you but because I betrayed your father. I thought bringing it up again would undo what your father and I had done to repair our relationship. Your father __loves__ you. That will never change."_

_ Eric nodded. He forgave his mother but he still wanted to hear his mother's version his conception and if she knew if his biological father had any other children. As difficult as it was tell him Chlorinda swallowed hard and said, _

_ "It was very brief, less then two months," she said of the affair. "When I found I was pregnant, I was terrified. He was a powerful man. I had broken it off with him before I found I was expecting. I put his name on your original birth certificate because I was afraid he would sense something suspicious because I left the factory so abruptly—the same week it was confirmed I was pregnant. I was afraid he would cause trouble, try to take you away from us," both Chlorinda and Eric's eyes started to fill with tears. "But he didn't. Eric, he doesn't know you exist. Then when you were three-months-old we were given the chance to sneak out in the middle of night. We never wanted __any__ of you to grow up in Cuba, under such conditions. All we packed was three liters of water, a satchel with our identification and your birth certificates. We left with nothing else but the clothes on our backs. _

_ "We were lucky your father had friends here who knew we were coming and met us when we finally reached ashore. And yes, Eric, you're "legal." All of us became citizens a year after we got here; that was when we officially changed your name and you were issued a new birth certificate. I'm so sorry I hurt you, Eric," she said breaking down sobbing._

_ Eric put his arms around his mother._

_ "Shh. It's okay, mama. I forgive you._" _Although the CSI still should have been told these things sooner, only part of him understood his mother's secrecy but he forgave her; it was the only way to move on. When she stopped crying, Eric had to know one more thing, his mother nodded._

_ "Did you know if he had any other children?"_

_ Chlorinda shook her head. "I don't know; but I don't believe so. He wasn't married and I never heard him or others mention that._

_ The woman also said she __desperately__ wanted to apologize to Chloe. "You have to believe me, I __never_ _meant to hurt Chloe's feelings. An hour after I told her what I did I felt __horrible__. You're right, times are different. Whatever makes her happy I should be fine with._

_ "I really want to make it up to her; I'm going to take back that tutu and let her get something she likes. Is it all right if I pick her up from school tomorrow? I know she only has a half day."_

_ Eric nodded. "That's fine. I'm not sure how happy she'll be to see you right away to tell you the truth."_

_ "That's my own fault," his mother acknowledged. "I can deal with it."_

_ True to what he thought Chloe wasn't happy to hear that nana was going to pick her up after school._

_ "Ah, dad! Do I __have__ to go with her?"_

_ "Yes, you do. abuela wants to talk to you. I know you're mad with her but I want you to be nice, understand?"_

_ Chloe nodded._

_ Chloe was very quiet sitting in her grandmother's car. She didn't really want to be there._

_ "I'm sorry for what I said to you, sweetie. abuela's __really__ sorry," Chlorinda explained when she were Chloe's age, things were different; there was girl's activities and boy's activities._ _"But I talked to daddy and he's right. Times are different now. I was wrong_. _I can really see you enjoy sports, the same way your dad did._"

_"You couldn't play baseball or soccer when you were a kid?" Chloe said, the surprise showing in her face._

_ "Well, I could. But when I was your age, people said that was for boys. So, no, my parents didn't let me play because it was thought girls don't do that, they do things like gymnastics and ballet. Can you forgive me, honey?"_

_ Chloe nodded. "Okay."_

_ The grandmother smiled. _

_ "I took that pink ballet thing back to the store and got the money back. What do you say that we go to the mall, get a snack and then you can get something you like?"_

_Chloe grinned "Okay!_

_ "Abuela," she asked. "Will you come to my soccer game on Saturday?"_

_ "Sure."_

Watching her granddaughter play soccer for the first time that weekend Chlorinda found herself covering her eyes whenever it looked as if another player was going to crash into Chloe from the side. Her daughter-in-law laughed at her. Calleigh stopped doing that a long time ago. By the end of the game the grandmother didn't cover her eyes, she saw the seven-year-old girl was too fast to get hit easily. She found herself cheering by the end.


End file.
